Business Tip

"Master Time Management "

By: Cynthia McKay, WomenEntrepreneur

Time management can be one of the most challenging aspects for those of us who work, attend school and manage families. It's not uncommon to be overextended as we try to keep up with our day-to-day activities and professional obligations.

For an entrepreneur, time management can be the difference between meeting your lifelong goals or merely going along, hoping to make the required deadlines but accomplishing nothing more.

Time management is often considered a process or tool to better manage our busy lives. But it's best explained as a concept with two components: attentiveness to your time, and control of your time. Being aware of our obligations and attempting to comply with all of our daily duties is a considerable task. A large part of our lives is devoted to being perpetually aware of things we need to accomplish or places we need to be. Compliance with our task list often appears impossible, because we simply run out of time--or we give up due to extreme frustration.

Typically, we identify our responsibilities, then try and force our schedules to meet those responsibilities in an unorganized manner. What's needed is a time-management plan. Without a plan, we're vulnerable to diversions and, before we know it, our time crunch has accelerated to a time catastrophe.

For example, while writing this article, I ran into a time management conflict of my own. Plagued by distractions, I determined to make a pot of coffee to kick my brain cells into action. Unfortunately, I was out of coffee. I decided to run down to Starbucks and purchase a blend of exotic coffees. As I entered the coffee shop, I spied a barista with whom I had previously worked. She graciously offered me a complimentary beverage and a visit, during which time we caught up on details of our jobs, families and the vacations we wished we had taken. She encouraged me to have one more cup "for the road," but conscious of the need for time management, I declined.

I didn't have a watch, but it had occurred to me that those extra "few minutes" may have thrown off my plan for completing my article that day. I grabbed my bag of coffee and headed home.

Passing by the local bank, I saw a large digital clock and realized that I had been away for two hours. I was shocked by the amount of time this outing had cost me. I thought about what I could have done in two hours to cultivate more business and map out an even better strategy to get ahead. Clearly, I needed a better time management strategy of my own.

Here's how to evaluate your time-management skills and develop a time-management plan that will avoid the pitfalls I faced on my coffee run:

1. Are you organized by way of a BlackBerry or a paper list?

2. Do you keep a list of goals and items that need to be accomplished on a day-to-day basis?

3. Do you take the time to prioritize your tasks and formulate a plan that allows you to determine your tasks by relevance?

If you have a list, or would see the benefit of working from a list, begin by enumerating your most pertinent tasks, and complete this list with the items that have lower significance. For today, begin with five items that would be manageable to do tomorrow. The idea behind the plan is to help you complete the items of highest importance and identify the items that, if left undone, can be carried over to the following day.

Once you complete your list, assume you have a crystal ball that can see into the future. That gives you the ability to envision some emergencies that might occur. Being prepared for emergencies allows you to amend your schedule and re-prioritize as incidents occur. Can you reorganize for greater potential to complete your necessary tasks? Absolutely! Just remember that nothing is completely reliable, even with the benefit of a crystal ball.

No matter how carefully we plan to avoid the unexpected, the unexpected will come, and amendments will have to be made. Your schedule just has to be a thumbnail sketch of your ability to differentiate between a significant chore and one that has less importance. This broad plan is an excellent starting point to assess your strengths and weaknesses so you can better structure your management of time.

Often we have difficulty with time management because it's easier to put off chores than do something we simply don't want to do. That's procrastination, and the best way to overcome it is to recognize it. If you aren't completing your to-do lists, you are procrastinating. Establish your priorities and get something of importance done every day.

The more you maintain your list, the more goals you can set. And the more you'll be able to take care of important things like increasing business and diversifying your product. If you're a novice, you'll now have time to start the business you've always wanted to start. You might even be able to justify the occasional two-hour stop at Starbucks.